Small group play

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  2. 8 years ago

    It's @aliveserver that only needs to run on the server and only if you plan on using persistence with ALiVE's War Room. None of the clients need @aliveserver.

  3. Oh ok. That makes sense. Well I've got a bornholm map that I think is good, but haven't got to test it with my buddy yet because he is still downloading them map (he has horrible download speed). I made a quick conventional on Stratis with Blu invading and Opf occupy. However wasn't able to get it to load in multiplayer.

    Before I go through some questions let me just say we had a blast playing Alive|Quickstart last night. He didn't get the full experience because the quickstart blu didn't really attack much, but we hit a few objectives and had a great time. Then just when we were proud we had cleared it out, they counter attacked lol! BTR and APC to the FACE. It was great. WarRoom got our stats and everything. LOVE this mod. THANK YOU!

    Question: Is there anything that HAS to be in the description text? So far the only thing I've really wanted to use it for are respawn and revive. Weather and Multiplayer can be handled through eden now I think.
    Question: Which does the game choose to listen to. Editor or description.txt. So if I have the description.txt set to 0-8 players, but then set the editor to say 1-15 players which does it take?

    The only other script I've used is the Halo script, and I copied that folder in, and it worked fine when I tested single player, so I've got that down.

    Disclaimer: I made the stratis map in a 30min rush since my buddy didn't have the other map, so a lot of this may just be little things I missed. If you see something you know the fix to off the top then great, but I will do more testing tonight.

    1.) When making it I had issues with errors on the screen asking for weather.sqf or starting weather line? I tried adding the start weather line to the description from the OP Landlord description. I tried with it, and without. Since I was in a hurry I removed the dynamic weather module and that error went away. (I do not have this problem on my bornholm map that I created)
    2.) The other issue I had was I made a circular TAOR over the stratis AF. The Mil obj. didn't pick anything up? Is the AF considered CIV structures I guess? In any case I just used a custom obj marker since I was in a hurry.
    3.) Once I created the .pbo and sent my buddy a copy we couldn't join the dedicated server. He mentioned something about it saying it was full. When I tried to load it would just kick me out of multiplayer to the main screen. I had the server set to 0-10 players. Do I have to use the description version to set that up, or can I leave that out of the description and manage it from eden now in the multiplayer settings? Do you have to have it set to at least 1 player maybe? I noticed in the OP landlord description theres a line about players must be a multiple of 1?

    A really cool thing that did work, was that being in a rush I didn't want to wait to set up all the player characters, and put down ammo boxes. I was able to copy my base from the bornholm map, and paste it in to the stratis one! Obviously had to still tweak a few small things, but it worked.

    Anyway. That's enough from me for now. Thanks for all your help and advice guys!! Have I mentioned this is FUN!

  4. Edited 8 years ago by SavageCDN

    1 - can you provide the exact error message? I believe weather sync in MP is still an issue so you might want to avoid using it if you are playing with others. Should be fine in SP.

    2 - Stratis AF is definitely a military objective (as is the small outpost on the hill to the east). Try making your TAOR marker a bit bigger. You can test by just plopping down an MP module set to Objectives Only and no TAOR so it covers the entire map - with debug on this will show you where the objectives are... .try to have your TAOR marker covering the centre of the objective and make it at least 300 x 300

    3 - Can't say for sure with EDEN - I would not use it and instead create your description.ext (set to mimimun of 1 player)

  5. Edited 8 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

    I don't think I can really answer a lot of your questions with definitive answers, so I'll leave them to someone a little more knowledgable. Firstly, if you do use a description.ext, make sure you are naming it correctly. It's description.ext, not description.txt (I'm sure that was just a typo but just to make sure it's worth pointing out).

    2.) The other issue I had was I made a circular TAOR over the stratis AF. The Mil obj. didn't pick anything up? Is the AF considered CIV structures I guess? In any case I just used a custom obj marker since I was in a hurry.

    To add to what Savage said, keep in mind you can never assume what areas are considered civilian or military objects. Because the civilian objective module and the military objective module need to be literally placed directly on top of civilian objects and military objects (respectively), the best way to do this correctly is to place the modules on the map, turn debug on for both modules on, enter the mission and open the map.

    After a few moments, you'll see the map start to light up. Civilian objects and military objects will begin to appear. Take a photo or screen shot. Go back into the editor and make sure you move the civ and mil modules to be directly on top of civ and mil objects, otherwise the modules won't work.

  6. Actually Heroes the module itself can be placed anywhere (MP or CP placement). Where that matters is that ALiVE tries to place the HQ (if enabled in settings) nearest the module placement. What needs to be placed over the objectives is the TAOR marker - if it doesn't cover the centre of the objective it won't get picked up by ALiVE.

  7. Keys to developing a great mission for ARMA/ALiVE IMO...

    1. Balance: As Heroes mentioned, you won't want to be so overpowering that taking out the enemy is no challenge. Loading up on 2-3 Apache attack helicopters in Insurgency Missions against Taliban with limited Anti Air defenses can ruin the fun in a hurry as those choppers destroy everything around them.

    As far as Troop levels, I typically control the levels of Opfor and Blufor by keeping Blufor in Military installations (FOBs, Airfields, etc.) and only going to highest priority Cities with the Civ Placement module. That way, the smaller, more remote villages can become Taliban/Insurgent hotbeds.

    That will allow your human controlled units to get plenty of action while on patrol and it will also allow the mission to go on for quite a while as BLUFOR doesn't just wipe out all OPFOR groups quickly.

    I also deliberately don't sync the OPFOR Civ Placement Module to the BLUFOR AI Commander because..as an insurgency...there should be less solid intel on where actual "enemy lines" are. They could be everywhere. BLUFOR will still go into these areas because they have their own CIv Placement module as mentioned before..but again...their own module in my games is set for them to occupy only the major cities and not the remote ones.

    2. Ambience: If I'm in Africa, I want to feel like I'm in Africa. If I'm in Afghanistan, I want to feel like I'm in Afghanistan. Adding little things like news broadcasts about the region, regional music, etc. can go a loooooong way to really taking your mission to the next level enjoyment wise.

    3. Flexibility: I try to make my missions flexible enough to be enjoyed by 20 players or 1-4 players. ALiVE is PERFECT for this. With the Command Tablet, etc. you can run very large scale operations with a skeleton crew of human controlled units. In fact, the updates to ALiVE's Command Tablet structure came directly out of Spyder and I's small group missions. We were wanting easier ways to run missions with multiple squads, Combat Support, etc. Spyder, wrote the script...tweaked it..combined it with what ALiVE already had..and now we have THE single best framework of any ARMA 3 Mod available today for running full map battles and operations.

    Spyder Addons are another mod that was birthed from our small group missions. Vehicle spawners to give you instant access to any vehicle type you need without having to place them before hand. Troop spawners to augment your force for larger scale assaults. Ambience modules to provide immersive Civ Traffic, vehicles, even surprise insurgent attacks.

    Anyway...those are my 3 areas I always focus on. Balance, Ambience, and Flexibility. As I mentioned...what you are looking for is, in my opinion, precisely what makes the current state of ALiVE so great.

  8. Edited 8 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

    Maybe we're not taking about the same thing. If you place a military obj module on an empty part of the map (without a military object present), you'll get an error on mission start. I'm not taking about the TAOR size (you covered that part). I was clarifying for Woody that he should keep this in mind as well.

  9. Edited 8 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

    As far as troop levels, I typically control the levels of Opfor and Blufor by keeping Blufor in Military installations (FOBs, Airfields, etc.) and only going to highest priority Cities with the Civ Placement module. That way, the smaller, more remote villages can become Taliban/Insurgent hotbeds.

    That will allow your human controlled units to get plenty of action while on patrol and it will also allow the mission to go on for quite a while as BLUFOR doesn't just wipe out all OPFOR groups quickly.

    Autigergrad, the man himself! Shut it down call it a wrap folks. :) Woody, if you ever make an Insurgency mission, he makes the absolute best. Find some of his other posts around the forums and you'll learn everything you need to know. My missions are all built around his philosophies.

    Regarding the quote above, I can't stress this part enough. Check out my most recent update in the "Initial Platoon Size" thread. Nothing will ruin a mission faster than giving BLUFOR too much strength. Running around an empty map because your guys wipe the floor with the enemy too quickly is even less fun than I make it sound. It's excruciatingly boring.

  10. @HeroesandvillainsOS  Maybe we're not taking about the same thing. If you place a military obj module on an empty part of the map (without a military object present), you'll get an error on mission start. I'm not taking about the TAOR size (you covered that part). I was clarifying for Woody that he should keep this in mind as well.

    Hmm.... maybe we're confusing objective modules with placement modules? I'm referring to placement modules - Military or Civilian. The location of the module only matters for where OPCOM places the HQ.

    If you place a military placement module anywhere on the map with no assigned TAOR it will cover all military objectives (as you mentioned in your post to see all the objectives in debug).

  11. Edited 8 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

    @SavageCDN Hmm.... maybe we're confusing objective modules with placement modules? I'm referring to placement modules - Military or Civilian. The location of the module only matters for where OPCOM places the HQ.

    If you place a military placement module anywhere on the map with no assigned TAOR it will cover all military objectives (as you mentioned in your post to see all the objectives in debug).

    Yes I was talking about objectives. My bad. We were definitely talking about different things.

  12. I think we both need coffee.

    Here's your 16oz... I'm taking 450ml

  13. WTF are ml's?????? :)

    Ha! I just made a coffee actually. Definitely needed it. Good call.

  14. one litre = 1000 milliliters

    one litre = 0.26 US liquid gallons

    or 2.11 pints

    or 0.22 Imperial Gallons

    or 33.8 fluid ounces

    My car gets 40 rods to the hogs head. What's that in US furlongs?

  15. @SavageCDN one litre = 1000 milliliters

    one litre = 0.26 US liquid gallons

    or 2.11 pints

    or 0.22 Imperial Gallons

    or 33.8 fluid ounces

    My car gets 40 rods to the hogs head. What's that in US furlongs?

    Imperial gallons? You're just making stuff up now. I refuse to google it because anything that can prove me wrong is definitively un-American. I'm also filing a complaint with the FCC (it'll be a notarized letter with a bald eagle letter head. Mailed with a bald eagle stamp so they know I mean business) so furlongs officially becomes a swear word and stops corrupting our children.

  16. What next? Build a wall between US and Canada?? ;)

  17. Sadly I wouldn't rule that out as possible if our next election turns out the way I hope it doesn't.

  18. Edited 8 years ago by SpyderBlack723

    @SavageCDN What next? Build a wall between US and Canada?? ;)

    And make Mexico pay for it!

  19. Too soon spider too soon...

    Thanks for the advice guys I'll respond better later.

  20. Edited 8 years ago by Woody05

    ...muuust sleep....must finish mission....must sleeep....

    So I figured out a few things:
    1.) I had forgot to select a weather type which is why the dynamic weather was wonky
    2.) I had forgot to add the respawn_west marker
    3.) Set player count to 1-8 instead of 0-8

    So instead of a long explanation...try it and tell me where I can do better (be gentle lol)

    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/21almsavpzp90dg/AADU8UyQLtxvK6YItx_928IDa?dl=0

    Mission folder and .pbo file are in there

    a.) I would like to add a repair helipad (anyone know a good script or ideas how to do it?)
    b.) thoughts troop levels/settings for a natural flow to the battle. Want my buddy and I to be able to follow the advance, but not have it over in a flash. Even getting pushed back sometimes.
    c.) I might bump the ai skill up another level. I was running around reckless trying to test the revive settings, but had a hard time getting shot lol
    d.) I left the blufor base unsynced from the opfor opcom because they kept assaulting the base on start even on occupy.
    e.) I changed the civ objective to light infantry with some forced vehicles because i was getting to many vehicles in the town next to the airbase.

    Left AI on for if anyone wants to copy to SP, but you can disable as admin on your server if you run it obviously.

    All advice welcome! BYOBanana

  21. a - The one and only http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=19139

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